You can Only Stay at the Bath House If
by ArgentSterling
Summary: Reunited with her old friends, Chihiro is finally happy after escaping her haywire life until... "Oh, Haku hasn't told you? You can only stay at the bath house if..." Now a desperate Chihiro tries to fit into a world of spirits... and the dead...
1. Chapter 1

**Wow, Guys. So this is my first fanfiction that I am actually uploading! It's not the first I've written, but I just figured I've had an account up for a while but I haven't posted any stories. You can thank/blame my dear friend WizardsGirl for motivating me. Anyways this is, obviously, a Spirited Away fanfic, and that alone is kind of intimidating. I hope I can live up to the movie (^_^')**

**I love studio Ghibli films. They amaze me. But anyways, I hope you guys like it! Thank you for reading, I really appreciate it! **

**Note: I do not own Spirited Away, or any Characters in it.**

"_Hey, Lin, how did you come to be at the bath house?" Chihiro asked the older girl as they cleaned a tub._

"_What do you mean?" Lin inquired._

"_Well I mean why are you here? What'd you do before this? What made you decide to work for Yubaba?"_

_The other girl was silent for a moment then answered. "I died… Well at least I think I did. The last thing I remember was being in an ambulance then I woke up on the other side of the river… I wandered around till I came here… and here I am."_

"_I'm sorry. I didn't mean to bring up bad memories…," Chihiro said._

"_It's alright," Lin replied._

Chihiro awoke in her room. It had been three months since she left the spirit world and during that time her parents had gotten a divorce and her mom had gotten a new boyfriend. Her dad had moved to somewhere in Germany.

Chihiro drew a shaky breath as she remembered the conversation she'd had with Lin.

"I miss you guys," she said to herself as she sat up.

"Chihiro!" her mother called from downstairs, "Aouyama's here!"

"Ugh," Chihiro thought as she pulled on her pink shorts and white shirt with the green stripe, "the hated boyfriend."

As Chihiro walked down the steps she put her hair in a ponytail using the string Zeniba and the others had made for her.

"There she is!" her mother said as she entered the kitchen.

"Morning," Chihiro mumbled.

"Do try to be more happy, Chihiro," her mother chided, "You've been moping ever since we moved in and you're starting to get very moody… Anyways I have to run to the store to pick something up. Will you entertain Aouyama until I get back?"

Chihiro merely looked at her mother.

"We'll have loads of fun," said Aouyama.

"Alright then, Sweetie, take care!" her mother said as Aouyama walked her to the door.

Chihiro nearly puked listening to them kiss each other goodbye.

When her mother had finally left Aouyama came back into the kitchen and glared at Chihiro.

"What?" she asked not caring that she sounded rude.

"You're stressing your mother out which makes her not happy. And when my girlfriend isn't happy it makes for very boring evenings. So either change the attitude or get out."

"You can't tell me to get out. This is my house."

"Look you're my future daughter, so I'll let that slide but-"

"'Future daughter?'" Chihiro interrupted. "You will NEVER be my father!"

*WHAP*

Chihiro was stunned. Aouyama had actually slapped her.

With tears streaming down her face she clutched her cheek. "Mom's gonna be so mad at you!"

Aouyama glared. "Yeah? Well 'Mom's' not gonna find out!" and with that he hit her again. And again. And again and again until he was full out beating her up.

By the time he stopped hitting her, Chihiro was a crumpled mess on the floor.

"Now you get out of this house right now, or you'll with you were never born," Aouyama threatened.

Chihiro didn't know what she was doing, or how she managed to do it, but she felt herself stagger to her knees and then her feet. She kept her head down and ran through the front door, slamming it behind her and not looking back. She ran past houses, past the school, past shops and cafés but she didn't stop. She vaguely recognized the road with the little shrines as she ran down it, towards the old abandoned theme park. She didn't stop running until she was right outside the entrance to the tunnel next to the little statue.

"It's raining," she dimly thought. Her entire body ached as she looked up at the sky and let the rain mix with her tears.

Slowly her mind began to register what had happened. She was just considering going back to tell her mom what happened when she realized where she was.

Her heart started beating faster as she tried to think. Aouyama wouldn't let her back in the house that was for sure. No doubt he had some story already lined up to tell her mother how she had run away. And she was already this close to seeing Lin, and Boh, and Kamaji… and Haku… She couldn't just leave now, could she?

Chirhiro drew a shaky breath and stepped into the tunnel. She walked through the train station and out the other side. She took in the sight that she had last seen three months ago when she was told that she could go home and Haku promised he'd see her again. That promise might get fulfilled sooner than either of them expected…

**So that's the first chapter! Sorry if it seems kind of short and awkward. I wrote this a long time ago so it will probably seem strange until I get to the part where I can actually start writing it myself instead of copying it from my notebook from two years ago.**

**The next chapter will be following Haku so this *Cue heavy sarcasm* **_**shocking cliffhanger **_**will not be continued until the chapter after that.**

**I know it all seems pretty cliché up to this point, and I'll try and make it better, but I've got some ideas that I haven't seen anyone else try for this fandom that I think will be interesting. **

**Again, thanks for reading, and reviews are appreciated (not required but very much loved lol).**

**Have a great day guys!**

**-ArgentSterling**


	2. Chapter 2

**Hello again! **

**So I'd say for the first chapter of my first story it went pretty well. Thanks so much for reading, guys!**

**To my reviewers…**

**AnimeInTheBasement: I shall hurry to get the rest of the chapters up. I think I have two or three more chapters after this actually written before I have to tear myself away from my notebook lol**

**Libby16: Thank you for your critique, it really makes me happy when people actually talk about the writing versus just "Oh the plot was nice" (Not that that doesn't make me happy too lol) I'll watch out for more mistakes = )**

**Woodswolf: You make me happy. That's all there is to it. You make me smile lol. I think I have an idea what character you were talking about but I'm not sure. I'll try not to disappoint you ; )**

**Anyways as the saying goes: On with the show = )**

**(Still don't own Spirited Away…)**

Haku was flying back to the bath house in his dragon form. He had been off on another mission for Yubaba and he was tired. As he flew he let his mind wander to a time when he had been truly happy. The time when Chihiro was with him. He remembered the way her hand felt in his when they said goodbye. He still remembered the promise he'd made to her… and he still intended to keep it.

It was getting late, about eight o'clock, and it was raining when Haku landed in his room and turned into his human form. He walked back to the window he'd just flown through and stared into the rain. He was about to close the window when he thought he saw a figure coming across the bridge. He caught a glimpse of a white and green shirt and pink shorts but banished the thought from his head. Chihiro couldn't be here, he was just imagining things.

"Guess I miss her more than I thought…" he mumbled sleepily.

Just then the foreman's bell rang.

"What now?" Haku wondered as he left his room and headed towards the first floor.

**Okay this chapter was short… a lot shorter than I thought it was lol. I'll hurry and try to post the next one soon, but that one's comparatively longer… I promise I'll get to some more exciting stuff soon, guys.**

**The next chapter follows Chihiro again, and I finally bring in some of the other characters from the movie. I hope I can keep them all in character instead of making them out of wack (^_^')**

**Anyways Thank you all for reading! Have a great day = )**

**-ArgentSterling**


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter three! Yay! So this chapter is Looooooong (comparatively speaking lol). I guess it makes up for the extremely short post last time (^_^') (Seriously I think my author's notes took up more space than the actual update lol).**

**To my reviewers that didn't post until after I had already typed chapter two, I apologize for not mentioning you in the author's notes at the beginning. You made me just as happy = )**

**As always I do not own Spirited Away**

**Now on with the show = )**

It was dark by the time Chihiro made herself head towards the bath house. As she was walking towards the bridge she thought she saw a dragon fly over head. She wanted to yell Haku's name but she wasn't sure it was him or if it had even really been there.

Chihiro slowed down as she approached to bath house. Should she hold her breath? Just to be safe she did. As she took the first step onto the bridge her whole body shuddered and a thin smile played across her lips. She continued on her way and at one point looked up to see what she thought was Haku standing at one of the windows but as quickly as she'd seen him he was gone.

When Chihiro was almost to the other side of the bridge she slipped on the wet planks and landed flat on her rather sore back, knocking the wind out of her. Her whole body throbbed. The bruises Aouyama had given her were finally starting to turn purple and she had given her head a good whack when she landed.

She lay there breathless on the bridge in the rain for a moment then got to her feet.

"Crap. I took a breath…" she said as she walked towards the small door in the gate.

She planned to go through the boiler room like she had done the first time only this time she wouldn't scream. She stopped for a moment at the spot where she and Haku had crouched three months ago as everyone else tried to find them.

She slowly made her way down the hundreds of steps leading to the boiler room taking care not to slip this time. As she passed the step that broke the first time she went down them she smiled bitterly.

"You're not going to get me again. Not this time at least."

When Chihiro reached the door to the boiler room she wasn't sure if she should risk waking Kamaji up.

"But I'm already here…" she thought. And with that she opened the door.

As she stepped over the thresh hold she felt as if she was in a place where she totally belonged. She felt like she was home.

Chihiro didn't have to risk waking the boiler-man up because he was already waking up and getting the fires ready. She stood in the hallway and smiled as she listened to his grumbles about the soot sprites and other things.

Just when Chihiro was about to walk in the room the door on the far wall opened and Lin climbed through with food for Kamaji and the soot sprites.

"Food's rea-," she began but stopped short when she saw Chihiro in the doorway.

"S-sen?" the older girl asked in an astonished voice.

Chihiro laughed and nodded as Lin all but dropped the tray of food and ran over and enfolded her in a huge bear hug.

Despite how much it hurt Chihiro's bruises she didn't pull back. It felt good to hug Lin. Kamaji was shocked as well. He'd even left his seat and walked over to them. Lin put her hands on Chihiro's shoulders and held her at arm's length.

"Oh my gosh I've missed you! Are you okay? You're covered in bruises! What happened to you?"

Chihiro's smile faded a little, but her friends deserved and answer. And so she took a deep breath and told them everything that had happened since she left the bath house. When she finally finished they stood there with shocked expressions on their faces.

"Wow…" was all Kamaji could say. Lin on the other hand…

"That jerk!" she exploded, punching her left hand with her right fist. "How dare he? And your mom left your dad for HIM! Ha!"

"He's lucky you weren't there I take it?" Chihiro laughed.

"Me?" Lin asked. "Yes. And he's doubly lucky Haku wasn't there. Just think how he'll react when he finds out!"

Chihiro's stomach did a flip. She hadn't thought about having to explain why she came but now that she was here it made perfect sense that people would ask why. And she didn't exactly have a way of concealing all her bruises.

"Speaking of Haku…" Chihiro began, "I need to go talk to Yubaba."

"Do you want me to come with you?" Lin asked.

"Yes please," Chihiro nodded.

Lin dumped out the basket of food for the soot sprites and they all ran towards it.

"Come on," she said gently pulling Chihiro towards the door to the elevator.

"Good luck!" Kamaji called after them.

As they made their way up to the top floor they talked about things that had been going on in the bath house, but once they made it to the top floor Lin had to leave.

"Good Luck, Sen," she said hugging her friend lightly before leaving.

Chihiro watched the elevator doors shut and then turned towards the huge double doors in front of her. Her whole body ached and she was exhausted but she wasn't going to let Yubaba see it. So she took a deep breath, straightened her shoulders and knocked.

"Come in," Yubaba's voice said.

Chihiro walked forwards as all the doors opened.

"Faster," Yubaba said impatiently and she pulled Chihiro the rest of the way there.

Chihiro tried her best not to do a summer-salt when she landed this time, opting instead to land on her knees which gave them horrible rug-burn.

"Sen." Yubaba said, pretending to be surprised. "You've improved your landings, I see."

"I've been trying to Ma'am," Chihiro replied.

"So why're you here this time?"

"I'd like to work here, Ma'am," Chihiro shyly asked as she stood up.

Yubaba laughed. "After what you did last time? Ha! You're lucky I haven't turned you into coal yet!"

"Please, Ma'am," Chihiro said. "I haven't got anywhere else to turn to."

"What happened to those gluttenous parents of yours?" Yubaba asked, lighting a cigarette.

Chihiro gulped. This was the part she was dreading. She took a deep breath and explained things to Yubaba.

"Well then," Yubaba murmered. "That changes things… Alright, Sen. You can work here but I don't think you'll be doing anything for a couple of days. Not with bruises like that, you aren't. Sign this contract while I summon Haku."

Chihiro quickly wrote her name while Yubaba rand the bell.

**And that concludes chapter three! The next chapter follows Haku again, but they finally meet up at last! I hope I made Chihiro more mature in this chapter. I'm trying to stick with the idea of her growing up and not being as apathetic after the end of the last movie like the theme goes. I love Lin, she's one of my favorite characters = ) I really hope I kept them all in character. I know I made Yubaba really nice but if you think about it she does have a nice side. As a writer I'm kind of banking on the fact that she's a mother so her maternal instincts would take over in certain situations regardless of the people involved.**

**Anyways the next chapter is written I just have to type it and upload it. **

**Thank you for reading guys!**

**-ArgentSterling**


End file.
